Griffey, M's rally past D-backs 4-3

Jun 20, 2009 - 6:22 AM
By GREGG BELL
AP Sports Writer

SEATTLE(AP) -- The potential for this kind of moment was what
brought Ken Griffey Jr. back to Seattle this spring after a
decade away.

The 39-year-old Junior turned a scheduled day off into the most
memorable night so far of his rollicking return season, hitting
a pinch-hit, two-run homer to tie the Arizona Diamondbacks in
the eighth inning.

Minutes later, Rob Johnson drove in Chris Woodward with the
go-ahead run off Tony Pena to give the Mariners a dramatic 4-3
victory on Friday night.

"Today was special," Griffey said, grinning over his 618th
career home run, the hugs he got from nearly every giddy
teammate and then the fans' curtain call he answered by emerging
from the dugout and tipping his batting helmet.

"Just a little chance of giving back, appreciating all the
things they've done for me over the years," Griffey said of the
people who have loved him since he was a 19-year-old rookie star
here two decades ago.

Johnson thinks Griffey is special, too. His locker neighbor
shared heartfelt condolences with him Friday, after Johnson
returned from being gone five days to Texas following the death
of his mother-in-law. Griffey told the young catcher how he got
through losing loved ones - including his best friend, Frank
King, who died 13 months ago at the age of 38 of cancer.

Johnson called his wife, who is still in Houston with their son,
before he took batting practice. Hours later he watched
Griffey's heroic moment in awe - and then became a hero himself.

"I couldn't think of a better situation. So many of us wouldn't
be here in this stadium if it wasn't for him," Johnson said of
Griffey.

Griffey led the 1995 Mariners to a late-season rally into their
first postseason, when the team was thinking of leaving town.
The momentum from that season led to special state legislation
that built Safeco Field - thus: "The House that Junior Built."

Jon Garland pitched seven scoreless innings against the major
leagues' lowest-scoring team, and appeared on his way to his
first win in a month - until the Mariners scored four times off
two relievers in their four-run eighth inning.

Miguel Batista (4-2) pitched a scoreless eighth for Seattle, and
David Aardsma struck out the side in the ninth for his 13th save
in 14 chances. He set down Miguel Montero for the final out with
Eric Byrnes at second base.

Scott Schoeneweis replaced Garland in the eighth and allowed a
solo homer to Russell Branyan, who had returned after attending
the funeral of his grandfather in Georgia. Pena (5-3) entered
and allowed a single to Adrian Beltre, who reached third before
Griffey came to plate to thrill the crowd of 27,319.

The fans roared even more when Griffey hit Pena's first pitch
into the right-center bleachers for his sixth career pinch-hit
home run and first since Sept. 25, 2006, when he was with his
hometown Cincinnati Reds.

"He's done it to so many pitchers - not so much off the bench
all the time," Arizona manager A.J. Hinch said. "That is why he
is a future Hall of Famer."

Pena became the 399th pitcher to allow a home run to Griffey.
All seven of his home runs this season have come off a
first-time victim.

"What he means to this team, to this city, that was so special,"
Johnson said.

Woodward followed with his second hit of the night - his first
two since Sept. 27, 2007, when he was with Atlanta. Then Johnson
lined a pitch from Pena into the left-field corner to score the
go-ahead run.

Seattle starter Jarrod Washburn allowed a season-low three hits,
but also three runs - two earned - in seven innings.

Montero made it 3-0 in the fourth, driving a fastball from
Washburn off the yellow line atop the right-center field wall
for his third home run.

The Mariners lost left fielder Endy Chavez to an apparently
serious right knee injury in the fifth when he flipped hard to
the turf in a collision with shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt on a
pop fly. Chavez appeared to call for it but Betancourt caught
it, and Chavez was carted from the field shaking his head with a
trainer at this side.

"All indications are not good," Seattle manager Don Wakamatsu
said.

Notes: Seattle is already without Jose Lopez, its RBI leader,
who is in Venezuela indefinitely to be with his seriously ill
sister. ... Arizona 1B Tony Clark went hitless in his first game
off the DL. The 37-year-old missed 41 games with a sprained
ligament in his right hand. ... INF Chad Tracy, on the DL since
May 30 with a strained oblique, began a rehab assignment for
Triple-A Reno at Tacoma.